


Marilka

by Llama1412



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Episode Related, Episode: s01e01 The End's Beginning, Gen, Geralt reflecting on the past, Set after the Law of Surprise happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23568943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llama1412/pseuds/Llama1412
Summary: Geralt knew he couldn’t claim his Child of Surprise. Destiny had punished him harshly the one time he’d thought about raising a child. He could not risk its wrath again.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Marilka
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Marilka

**Author's Note:**

> Marilka and Geralt’s interactions were what got me into the show. I wanted him to adopt her so bad. The end of the episode broke my heart, of course. And now it’s Geralt’s turn (again).

Geralt never should have claimed the Law of Surprise. He knew that there was no place for a child in his life. He was a Witcher, he fought monsters and faced death daily. What sort of environment would that be for a child?

It wasn’t safe.

He hadn’t always understood that.

There was once when he had thought, maybe it could be possible to have this, have some semblance of a family. That he could teach a child the important parts of being a Witcher without the horrific trauma of it all.

It was an idle thought, at first. It was the girl’s boldness that did it, really. Declaring that she wasn’t scared of him, her little smirk at _mysteriously_ having killed her dog – she’d already amused him even before she declared _I think that makes you a hero_.

And she just continued to be more endearing. _I think it’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard_ , she said about girls not being able to be Witchers. Because this strange girl, _Marilka like Milk,_ wanted to be a Witcher. She wanted to see the world and she looked at him and saw not _Monster-freak-offspring of the devil_ but instead, _possibility_. When was the last time that had happened?

He had been absentmindedly compiling a list of which monsters were real and which weren’t when realized what he was thinking. He wanted to bring Marilka with him. This precocious girl who made him smile, he wanted to help her see the world.

It was an absurd idea. Completely illogical. Witchers were made sterile for a reason – how could they consign a child to their fate? No one wanted to be a Witcher.

Except Marilka.

And then Renfri was holding Marilka hostage and he didn’t want to do this, but he couldn’t let Marilka die – and he couldn’t let Renfri kill her. Neither of them deserved this fate. There was no lesser evil here – just desperation and pain and death. There had been no right choice – but what if he had managed to make the wrong one? How could he ever know? He had been right before: evil is evil. Doing it to save Marilka did not make it less so.

He had been a wreck after the fight with Renfri, he knew that, even if he couldn’t remember it clearly. He remembered every detail of Renfri’s final breath, but every moment afterwards was blurred in a haze of pain and rage and hurt in his memory – until Marilka.

He’d felt a spark of hope when Marilka walked towards him. He should have known better – the stones the villagers threw were bruising his back, Renfri’s blood was soaking into the knee of his pants, and he truly thought Marilka might – what? Comfort him? Come with him? After he butchered all these people in front of her?

_Get out of Blaviken, Geralt. Don’t ever come back._

His heart had been left in battered pieces after Blaviken. Every time someone called him _Butcher_ , it all came rushing back.

That’s why he knew he could never claim his Child of Surprise. The child would be royalty, they would have everything they could want out of life. It was better if they never met – Geralt could never risk tempting Destiny to destroy him again.


End file.
